Guy Walters is the author of nine books, which include four wartime thrillers and the critically acclaimed histories Hunting Evil and Berlin Games. Frustrated at the enormous amount of junk history around, Guy sees it as his personal mission to wage war on ignorance and misconceptions about the past. Guy is currently working on a new history of the Great Escape, and is also studying for his PhD at Newcastle University. His website is www.guywalters.com and is @guywalters on Twitter.

Would you vote for someone who spent the weekend in SS uniform?

What would you do if you found that your Prospective Parliamentary Candidate liked dressing up as a Nazi? I'm sure that would guarantee some of your votes, but many would, I suspect, be somewhat disquieted. It's something that voters in the Congressional Election for Ohio's 9th District will have to dwell on, because Republican nominee, Rich Iott, does just that. According to The Atlantic, Iott spends his free time dressing up as a member of an SS Panzer Division and no doubt running around woods making 'uh-hur-hur' machine gun noises. (I did as much when I was 10.)

Iott is not a Nazi, but a reenactor, one of millions of men who pretend to be soldiers from the past and replay famous campaigns. It's something that even Telegraph bloggers have been known to do, and for the most part, it's fun and merely a bit of fantasy fulfilment. (It's also fair to point out that Iott doesn't just dress as an SS man.) Most blokes want to be soldiers at some point in their lives, and reenacting enables men to enjoy the kit, conditions and camraderie without the death. Personally, I think the whole thing is a teensy bit childish, but no more so than plenty of other harmless hobbies such as amdram and model-making.

Naturally, The Atlantic carries plenty of heated reaction from historians and rabbis, but Christopher Browning seems to be coolly spot-on when he says, "It is so unhistorical and so apologetic that you don't know to what degree they're simply caught up innocent war memorabilia enthusiasts who love putting on uniforms."

What does irk me is why so many men get a kick out of pretending to be in the SS. Sure, their uniforms were cool, and they have a (largely ill-deserved) reputation for being tremendous warriors, but isn't it in bad taste to get togged up as a member of a fighting force that participated in genocide? (Incidentally, I think dressing up as a 17th-century pirate in equally bad taste, but I'll let that one go.)

I wrote about the appeal of this shameful Nazi fetish in The Spectator many moons ago, and there's no doubt that Nazism still holds a dark glamour for those unable to look beyond the accoutrements of uniform and pageantry.

The problem with Mr Iott is that he is seeking to become a public figure, and he needs to be sensitive to the feelings of members of his electorate. You may think I'm being a bit pi, but what would you think if you discovered that David Cameron dressed up as an SS soldier? Would that be OK as well?